Justice Minister Judith Collins looks set to shelve reforms set in motion by her predecessor Simon Power, including moves to an inquisitorial system for victims of sexual crimes.
But she is still pushing for an overhaul of the Family Court, indicating changes to the counselling and mediation model and making it easier for judges to throw out vexatious claims and prevent lawyers from repeatedly lodging applications.
Mr Power, from the liberal side of the National caucus, was an enthusiastic supporter of the inquisitorial model, visiting courts in Europe where it is practised and ordering a Law Commission investigation into alternative trial processes.
The model could see judges question victims of sex crimes, and the verdict could rest in the hands of a judge, or a panel of a judge and specially trained jurors.
Ms Collins, considered more hard-line than her predecessor, said she was open to the commission's findings, but merging the approaches in a criminal court was "fraught with difficulties".